Samsung did not change Bixby much on the newly unveiled Galaxy S9, despite announcing its updated version late last year. However, the Korean tech giant promises to finally take its voice assistant to the next level when it releases the Galaxy Note 9 later this year.
Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday, Samsung mobile CEO DJ Koh confirmed to reporters that their Bixby 2.0 virtual personal assistant platform will launch with the upcoming phablet.
"For Bixby 1.0, we focused on a fast rollout to the market," Koh said. "Expanding the ecosystem was difficult. So Bixby 2.0 will strengthen this aspect and we are working intensely."
Currently, they are testing the beta version of Bixby 2.0 with around 800 partners. At such speed, Koh said he is confident that they can roll out its final version by the time Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will be released. He did not give a specific date for that but every Galaxy Note phablet since Note 5 has been unveiled in August. Thus, patrons can expect it by the end of summer.
Feature-wise, executive vice president and head of software and AI (artificial intelligence) Eui-Suk Chung shared at the conference that Bixby 2.0 will be able to recognize individual voices when there are multiple users. It focuses on integration with other Samsung devices as well.
"Bixby will not be tied to a specific device," Chung explained. "The ultimate goal is to make it ubiquitous."
This integration will start with smart TVs sold in the United States later this year. The feature is expected to be included in the Bixby speaker as well. Coming in the second half of 2018, the device will reportedly be a premium one, possibly in line with Apple's HomePod.
Although Samsung will not initially offer Bixby 2.0 in the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, the voice assistant update will likely make its way to the flagship handsets sometime after its debut in the Note 9.
